INSTRUCTION FOR THE TRAINERS OF ICT STUDENTS

The Universidad Autónoma de Yucatán (UADY) México, has been concerned since the 1970s with the importance of preparing University Professors in pedagogical aspects that would professionalize their teaching. The Faculty of Education (FEUADY) considers this commitment as one of their main goals through its different graduate programs. It has contributed to the training of a large number of professionals from different educational institutions in the State of Yucatán, Mexico.
The program, “Specialization in Teaching” since 2004, includes courses whereby student teachers develop skills in the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT).
One of the most recent elective courses that have been incorporated into the program is the so-called "Development of Learning Objectives." It contains both pedagogical aspects as well as the technological.
Thus the aim of this program is to train and update teacher students in the use of technological tools which are applied to the design of digital materials that are supported within a pedagogical framework of development. During the training, teacher students acquire knowledge and skills for the design and proper use of materials that support the process of teaching and learning whatever subject is taught, taking into account the planning and use of digital resources. The subject matter takes into account different learning styles and student’s individual differences.
It is understood that learning styles facilitate student’s abilities to demonstrate certain strategies they use when they encounter a set of activities or a problem that needs solving. In this way, it is important to train teachers so that they can create conditions conducive to the teaching-learning process. We encourage teachers to design new learning environments with ICT, to adapt and develop materials with different technological supports and to link learning to practice. The course "Developing learning objectives” was implemented for the first time during the month of January 2010. The Learning Management System model was used as a way to provide support for on-site classes. This educational platform allows the student teachers to manage content, offer follow-up meetings and have access to student’s information as well as to update the content of the program.
This course is divided into four themes. Didactic sequencing is based upon the complexity of each issue. The development of the course consists of the presentation of each tool through various examples that contextualize the student teachers to the end product of each topic.
The planning, design and development of educational activities allows the teacher students to acquire the domain of each tool, which involves the application of the didactic aspects of it. The first tool that arises in the course is the WebQuest, followed by the design and use of Wikis, then the Podcast and lastly Video blogs.
At the end of the course student teachers expressed their satisfaction with the program and the education they received. Some student teachers mentioned that when they first began the course they were not able to use Web 2.0 tools and were concerned. However, at the end of the course, they said they were motivated to further continue development and implementation of the new educational material, as well as, to always consider the didactic aspects of the activities.